BIO
I graduated with the West Point Class of 2005 and served as an Infantry officer in the US Army for 10 years. During my time in the military, I served as a platoon leader, Aide-de-Camp, and company commander and before leaving the service as a Major.
After the military, I held a variety of positions in the private sector. I worked at Tesla as an HR Business Partner and build out their leadership development program in the US and Europe. I also worked in the addiction and substance use industry for about 12 months, which deepened my knowledge of trauma.
Since 2010, and concurrent with my other experiences, I've been a transformational speaker and advocate for psychological health and wellness. I've delivered hundreds of speaking engagements and workshops related to adversity and continue to do this work today.
During a combat deployment in 2007, I was shot by a sniper and died for 15 minutes before being revived. I recovered and returned to finish the tour a few months later, and experienced many different "evolutions" of trauma in subsequent years. Most of this story is described in my first book, The Beauty of a Darker Soul: Overcoming Trauma Through the Power of Human Connection (2018).
In 2018, I set out to understand consciousness and entered the Philosophy, Consciousness, and Cosmology program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. I was intrigued by the challenge understanding death and felt that studying metaphysics could open up new perspectives. It did.
I'm currently completing a Ph.D. in consciousness studies at CIIS (expected completion 2024). I'm focusing on comparing different states of "non-ordinary" consciousness and looking at how peak states of consciousness generated by near-death experiences and transformational breathwork sessions can lead to healing, heath, and personal growth.
I consider myself a breathworker first because I believe breathing is fundamental to the human condition and that it is a powerful catalyst for transformation. I specialize in working with people with high levels of adversity who are committed to change. I practice a certain style of breathing that tends to release toxic energy from the body and induces deep states of relaxation. Many times, peak states of consciousness are reached. I guide people through these experiences and help them integrate it into their lives.
